Impact machine for the mining of coal



June 8, 1954 A. BOLTON IMPACT MAcl-UNE FOR THE MlNING 0F COAL 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed June 7, 1948 ISI -Illx \vuvsNTO\R: HRTHUR BOLTON X4/4 4@ Mayu RTTOF ,www .www LFHIHWMWIIIHHNIJE: ,U4/|461: l 1|!1l l: l 1, L ii/ A NM lllllllll Il.: Q v MIWUIMHIHIIN lm w IIw w m Rv Q & M .m N

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Aof a track laid on the floor d of a mine gallery horizontal transverse shaft e is supported in bearings e1 in parallel upright plates a1, a2, a3 xed -f each of which has a deep peripheral recess f1 head g3, its shank being provided on one side :cutting edges g2 are interchangeable to facililplates ii having arcuate frontal edges h1 are -on the carriage a.

Patented June 8, 1954 IMPACT MACHINE FOR THE MINING 0F COAL Arthur Bolton, Shotley Bridge, England; Martins Bank Limited, Liverpool, England, and Ralph Tilney, Ebchester, England, executors of said Arthur Bolton, deceased Application July 7, 1948, Serial No. 37,343

Claims priority, application Great Britain J uly 9, 1947 2 Claims. (Cl. 3262-14) i 2 This invention relates to machines for the min- Although shown in alignment in Figs. 1 and 2 ing of coal and the like, and has for its object for clearness, the hubs f are preferably anguto provide an improved machine capable of cutlarly displaced regularly around the shaft e so ting and breaking down coal or the like as it that the picks of the series come into operation is travelled along and discharging the cut matef in succession. rial onto a conveyor or chute. A further object In operation, the shaft e is revolved at say 200 of the invention is to provide percussive cutting revs. per minute, and the resulting centrifugal means actuated by centrifugal force produced by force causes the picks g to swing outwards from a rotary shaft, and to employ said cutting means the axis of the shaft, their outward swing being for ejecting the cut material. 1i limited by the stop pins f3 to a predetermined With these and other objects in view, my in- 'maximum radius. As the picks travel around the vention consists of the novel features of conshaft, their cutting edges g2 strike the coal face struction herein described and illustrated and in succession and cut thereinto to detach an specically set out in the appended claims. arcuate layer therefrom. The shaft e is rotated The accompanying drawings show one con- 15 in clockwise direction, the picks thus cutting struction of coal mining machine in accordance upwards from the bottom of the coal seam. The with this invention. In the drawings: effective arc described by the picks extends the Fig. 1 is a partly sectional plan view of the full thickness of the seam from the floor d to the machine proper, showing the same without its roof d2 of the gallery. The depth of the cut in operating motor; lo the direction of the travel of the machine along Figs. 2 and 3 are side elevations partly in secthe face is relatively light, say three to six inches. tion respectively on the lines Iii-II and III-III This depth is controlled by setting back the frontal edges of the stop plates h to correspond. The depth of the cut into the face is determined by the width of the picks g multiplied by the number of hubs f provided on the shaft e plus clearances and the width of the stop plates It Fig. 3A is a View similar to Fig. 3, but showing the complete machine on a smaller scale and illustrating the connection of the driving chain with the motor and idle sprocket respectively at opposite ends of the machine. between the hubs.

Referring to the drawings, in the example The impact of the cutting edges g2 of the picks therein illustrated, the machine comprises a *so on the coal face causes each pick in turn to rewheeled carriage a constructed 'of steel plating coil about its pivot pin f2 to a minimum radius welded together and mounted on wheels b1, b2, b3 wherein it lies against its hub f and clears the on which it can be travelled on the rails c1, c2 uncut coal face. Coal indicated at d3 cut from vthe face is received in and carried by the scoopalong the coal face which is indicated at d1. A :z3 shaped pick heads, the collection of the cut coal being facilitated by the adjacent stop plates-hl between which the pick heads function as shovels. lengthwise of the carriage a. One end of the Centrifugal force rapidly-causes the picks to swing shaft e projects beyond the plate a1 and has outwards again until the shoulders g4 on their keyed on it by keys e2 a number of cruciform hubs o shanks Strike the Stop pins f3 and the COIlSequent arrest of their outward swing ejects the carried coal. The picks are off-set from the face plate a1 of the carriage to an extent which provides adequate clearance between the machine and the coal Vface d1 and permits the machine to follow-on without obstruction from the face.

The cut coal raised by the picks g is thrown by them onto a transversely-disposed conveyor 1 provided with scrapers il carried by chains :i2 tate sharpening and 1re-setting. Stationary stop 'no running over sprocket wheels :i6 on end rollers i3.

The scrapers travel over a plate i4 extending between the rollers, and spill plates :i5 direct the coal onto said plate. The rollers are mounted in bearings i7 in the transverseplate a4 and in a para1le1 plate a@ on the carriage of the machine,

bridged by four pins ,f2 spaced 90 apart forming the pivots for the shanks g1 of a series of percussive picks g. Each pick is provided with a detachable cutting edge g2 and a scoop-shaped l..

with a shoulder g4 co-acting with a stop pin f3 on the hub adjacent to each pivot pin f2. The

interposed between the hubs f, the rear ends of said plates being attached to the lower projecting portion of a transverse vertical plate c4 ixed 'the spindle h5 of the twin Wheel'b2.

3 the rear roller being driven through suitable gearing from the shaft e or from one of the sprockets o1, o2 hereinafter described. The conveyor j discharges-the Acut coal through an aperture a in the back portion of the carriage onto a belt conveyor lc of standard type running parallel with the coal face between the rails c1, c2 of the track on which the carriage travels. The transverse conveyor is boxed in as indicated at :i8 to prevent escape of dust except at its discharge end where. it is buried in the relatively large volume of cut coal discharged onto the belt conveyor' 7c.

To prevent spillage of cut coal in the way of the picks g, a curved guard plate m is provided of width equal to the depth of the cut into `the coal face, the plate m fitting closely to the path of the cutting edges g2 of the picks and ensuring that cut coal not ejected onto the convevor :i by the picks is retained by the latter until ejection occurs. The guard plate m is supported by the transverse plate c4 and extends downwards from 'theupper edge of the forward spill plate i5 to a level just clear of the floor of the cut. The face plateax extends from close to the floor to close to the roof d2 of the gallery and from the transmounted between plates al running lengthwise of -the back of the carriage, by twin hanged wheels b2 on a spindle b5 mounted between the plates a2, on the carriage parallel with the face plate a1 extending from the transverse plate a4, and a broad hanged wheel 3 on a spindle b5 mounted between the side plates as of a box @L9-at the righthand'end of the carriage, the wheels'b2 and b3 rurming on the double rail c2 and guiding the carriage in its travel.

In the preferred arrangement the machine is driven by an endless chain n running the full length of the coal face, said chain being travelled by passing its right-hand loop nl around a sprocket wheel s1 on the driving shaft s2 of a stationary' electriomotor s and its left-hand loop n2 around an idle sprocket t. The chain is ern--v ployed to revolve the shaft e on which the pickcarrying hubs f are keyed by keys c2 as aforesaid, and also to travel the carriage uf. For this purpose, sprocket wheels o1, o2, o3 are provided on spindles p supported by the parallel plates e2, a3 a' sprocket wheel o4 isskeyed by a key cS-on the shaft e, and a sprocket wheel o5 is provided on A cover r protects the sprocket wheels. The upper driving run and the lower return run of the chain n are supported by bars c3, c4 running lengthwise of the gap betweenrthe members of the double rail c2 and forming troughs therewith. The driving run of the chain n engages the Wheel o1 and rises over the wheel o2 to engage around the lower half ofthe wheel o4 on the shaft e, the chain risingagain over the wheel o3 and engaging below the wheel .o5 which returns it to its trough in the double rail. The sprocket wheel c5 does not drive the twin wheels b2, which revolve freely. The direction of the upper run of the chain in Fig'. Sis from right to left.

It willbe seen that; there being no driving connection between the wheelsbl, b2, b3 and the sprocket wheels 01, o2, o3, o4, o5, the machine is movable on its rails c1, c2, without rotation of the sprocket wheels. The chain exerts a pressure on the machine through the temporarily stationary sprocket wheels which moves the machine forward so long as the resistance of the machine to movement is less than the resistance of the sprocket wheels to rotation, the latter, because of the hea yy pick-carrying hubs, being considerable. On the stop plates h coming against the coal face, the resistance of the machine to movement is enormously increased and the drive of the chain is then perforce applied to the sprocket wheels and overcomes their resistance to rotation, whereupon the hubs are revolved and, when they develop the necessary speed to apply centrifugal force to the pivoted picks, the picks swing out beyond the stop plates and cut into the frontal layer of the coal face as hereinbefore described, the pressure of the stopplates on thefrontai layer of the coal face being maintained. The said pressure assists-in splitting the frontallayer into pieces andthe splitting and detachment of the coal by the picks removes the resistance in the way of the stop plates against the forward movement of the machine and allows it intermittently to jump forward until the stop plates again bear on solid coal. The power of the chain drive is thus-applied to move the machine forward when the resistance of the frontal layer of the coal face collapses and becomes less than the resistance of the sprocket wheels-to rotation, and to revolve the sprocket wheels and the hubs when the resistance of the machine to forward movement is greater than the resistance of the sprocket wheels to rotation.

To recapitulate: rihe endless driving chain n running in the forward direction (so far as its operative run concerned) encircles the sprocket wheels o1 to 05. The machine being mounted on freely-revolving track wheels h1 to b3, the pull of the chain on the machine is sufficient to travel it against normal resistance. However, the sprocket wheels can revolve only when the inertia of the shaft e and its hubs f has been overcome, and the resistance of the shaft e to rotation is more than the normal resistance of the machine to travelling on its rails. Thus, while the resistance to travel is normal, there is no lrelative movement between the chain and the sprocket wheels, so that the effect is as though the chain was xedly attached to the machine, whereby the machine and chain travel forward as a unit. As soon as the resistance to travel is increased (for examplewhen the stop plates h strike an uncut-shoulder ofthe coal face as in Fig. 2) to the pointwhere said increased resistance exceeds the resistance of the shaft e to rotation, the inertia of the shaft is overcome and the sprocket wheels and the hubs f commence to rotate. During the stoppage of the forward 'travel of the machine, thedrive of the chain :e is wholly to the rotation of the hubs j, and the picks g are caused to hammer against the uncut shoulder of the coal face. Soon the shoulder breaks down so that the resistance to the forward travel of the machine is temporarily decreased. rhe niachine therefore moves forward, but again the stop plates h strike an'uncut portion of the` coal face, whereupon travel of the machine stops, and the hubs come into action again.

At one or both ends of the coal face a cham'- ber is cut to accommodate the machine, and convenient mechanical means are provided for supporting the roof d2 and for moving the carriage a., its track c1, c2 and the belt conveyor 7c bodily forward up to the coal face d1 at the com pletion of each traverse in preparation for the succeeding cut.

It will be understood that, While I have herein described and illustrated a coal mining machine having a rotary pick-carrying shaft e' at one end only, a similarly mounted, fitted and driven shaft e may be provided at each end of the carriage ci to enable the machine to operate in each direction alternately. Vertical adjustment of the cutting arc of the percussive picks g may be provided for by eccentrically mounting the forward wheels of the carriage.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A mining machine comprising a movable carriage, a shaft mounted for rotation in bearings carried by said carriage, power-driven means for rotating said shaft, hubs fixed on said shaft and o1f-set from a side of said carriage, pivots carried by said hubs in parallel relation to said shaft, a percussive pick mounted on each of said pivots and adapted to swing outward under the inuence of centrifugal force during rotation of the hub, stops on said hubs adjacent to said pivots to limit the projection of said picks from the hub, and relatively stationary stop plates carried by the carriage and extending between adjacent pairs of pick-carrying hubs, said stop plates projecting in advance of said hubs but short of the picks when the latter are in their position of maximum projection from the hubs.

2. A mining machine comprising a movable carriage, a shaft mounted for rotation in bearings carred by said carriage, power-driven means for rotating said shaft, hubs fixed on said shaft and off-set from a side of said carriage, pivots carried by said hubs in parallel relation to said shaft, a percussive pick mounted on each of said pivots and adapted to swing outward under the influence of centrifugal force during rotation of the hub, stops on said hubs adjacent to said pivots to limit the projection of said picks from the hub, and relatively stationary stop plates carried by the carriage and extending between adjacent pairs of pick-carrying hubs, said stop plates projecting in advance of said hubs but short of the picks when the latter are in their position of maximum projection from the hubs, the percussive picks being provided with scoop-shaped heads to receive the pieces of coal cut by the picks, said heads operating in conjunction with the stop plates to convey said pieces and ejecting said pieces when the picks swing outwards and strike the stops adjacent to their pivots.

References Cited in the ille 0f this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 981,201 Kuhn Jan. 10, 1911 1,320,144 Hencken Oct. 28, 1919 1,439,666 Foss Dec. 19, 1922 1,472,563 Loken Oct. 30, 1923 1,482,904 Moore et al Feb. 5, 1924 1,500,852 Walker July 8, 1924 1,806,792 Degenhardt et al. May 26, 1931 2,336,487 Lewis et al Dec. 14, 1943 2,520,066 Rush Aug. 22, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 160,509 Great Britain Mar. 14, 1921 

